From The Thick of It and Twenty Twelve to Jack Whitehall and Sarah Millican, here's the full list of the runners and riders for this year's gongs

The nominations for the British Comedy Awards 2012 have been announced.

Nominees include Olympic comedy Twenty Twelve, political drama The Thick of It and children's sketch show Horrible Histories. Olivia Colman has found herself nominated twice in the Best TV Comedy Actress category while Radio Times columnist Sarah Millican is up for both Best Female Television Comic and Queen of Comedy.

While most of the category winners will be decided by the British Comedy Awards jury, viewers votes decide who is crowned the King or Queen of Comedy. The comics up for the award this year are Alan Carr, Lee Mack, David Mitchell, Graham Norton, Jack Whitehall and RT's Sarah Millican.

Britain's funny men and women will have to wait until 12 December to find out who's won, when the results will be announced in a live show at 9pm on Channel 4. This year's show will be hosted, as ever, by Jonathan Ross.